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| Misty morning |
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| Purple-faced Leaf Monkey (with modesty intact) |
We stopped at the education centre, dodging the rain showers, and whilst some watched for leeches, a couple of us tried to track down a calling Indian Pitta - no to avail I might add - and the rest hung around the garden to see what could be found. We had some great views of birds previously only glimpsed, and had a stunning encounter with Common Green Lizard as it ran across the path in front of us with a cicada in its mouth. It stayed in the undergrowth nearby for ages as we all watched.
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| Common Green Lizard with Cicada |
On the way back to the lodge Peter had a stick insect on his hand, which we tried to photograph - not easy when you are being jostled about in the back of a truck with nothing to hang on to, so not the best idea.
see the rather dodgy result below!
Soon it was time to go back to the lodge for lunch, and a (very short) rest.
Our afternoon walk from the lodge took us to the nearby Pitakele Road. Along the way many of the smallholdings were putting out their tea harvest to be collected. Some homes had small orchards with fruit trees and one farmer also harvested Beetlenut.
An adult Changeable Hawk-eagle was perched in a tree above an old nest, and as we moved up to a higher area a juvenile was seen. It had a short contretemps with a mongoose and then perched on top of a palm tree. This gave us all an excellent opportunity to study it and take photographs
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| Juvenile Changeable Hawk-eagle |
In a small cinnamon plantation there were several beetles and a beautiful red, blue and black moth.
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| Unidentified Moth |
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